LeBron James is now the latest celebrity who is being accused of photo theft. According to The Blast, the Lakers point guard is being sued by photographer Steven Mitchell for copyright infringement along with his multimedia company Uninterrupted Digital Ventures and management company LRMR Ventures, LLC.
The court documents of the suit state the following on Mitchell’s behalf:
“This is an action for copyright infringement under Section 501 of the Copyright Act. This action arises out of Defendant’s unauthorized reproduction and public display of a copyrighted photograph of NBA basketball player Lebron James during a basketball game against the Miami Heat, owned and registered by Mitchell, a professional photographer.”
According to the suit, Mitchell is referring to an image he took of James at a game against the Miami Heat that ended up being posted on LeBron James’ official Facebook page. The suit also claims that LeBron did not ask Mitchell for permission or pay him for the photo. The photographer mentioned that he is currently in the process of getting his photographs licensed so he can start earning money for their use.
“Defendants did not license the Photograph from Plaintiff for its Website, nor did Defendants have Plaintiff’s permission or consent to publish the Photograph on its Website,” the suit states.
Mitchell is now suing James for copyright infringement and is asking for $150,000 for each violation and also believes he should be granted all of the profits that were made from the Facebook post.
It looks like LeBron might just be handling this one in silence. According to his InstaStories, he has been spending quality time with his wife and children as they remain quarantined in their home staying fit and keeping safe.
